Debating U. S. -Cuban Relations : Shall We Play Ball?

Two decades ago affairs between the United States and Cuba had seen little improvement from the Cold War era. Today, U.S.-Cuban relations are in many respects still in poor shape, yet some cooperative elements have begun to take hold and offer promise for future developments. Illustrated by the ongoing migration agreement, professional military-to-military relations at the perimeter of the U.S. base near Guantánamo, and professional Coast Guard-Guardafrontera cooperation across the Straits of Florida, the two governments are actively exploring whether and how to change the pattern of interactions.

The differences that divide the two nations are real, not the result of misperception, and this volume does not aspire to solve all points of disagreement. Drawing on perspectives from within Cuba as well as those in the United States, Canada, and Europe, these authors set out to analyze contemporary policies, reflect on current circumstances, and consider possible alternatives for improved U.S.-Cuban relations. The resulting collection is permeated with both disagreements and agreements from leading thinkers on the spectrum of issues the two countries face―matters of security, the role of Europe and Latin America, economic issues, migration, and cultural and scientific exchanges in relations between Cuba and the United States. Each topic is represented by perspectives from both Cuban and non-Cuban scholars, leading to a resource rich in insight and a model of transnational dialogue.

Jorge I. Dominguez is Antonio Medero Professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics, Harvard University.

Dick Cluster is the author of the novels "Return to Sender, Repulse Monkey, "and" Obligations of the Bone. "He landed in Havana's Jose Marti airport for the first time in 1969 and has been fascinated by the city ever since, exploring it by foot, bicycle, city bus, tour bus, camel bus, car, and other means. He is a translator of Cuban literature and teaches courses on Cuban history, culture, and politics at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, as well as interdisciplinary courses in other fields. Previous nonfiction books include "They Should Have That Cup of Coffee," about U.S. radical movements of the '60s and '70s, and "Shrinking Dollars, Vanishing Jobs," about the U.S. economy.Rafael Hernandez is the editor of "Temas," a Cuban quarterly in the field of history, culture, economics, and politics. Graduated from the University of Havana with a degree in French literature, and from the Colegio de Mexico in political science, since the 1970s he has researched and written about Cuban culture, society, history, and politics, Cuba-U.S. relations, and images of Cuba in the U.S. He has oriented, guided, and taught many American visitors to Cuba, whether students, academics, or travelers, been visiting professor and researcher at Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the Woodrow Wilson Center, Tulane, and the University of Puerto Rico, and lectured at numerous other schools and academic conferences. His publications include three books of poetry and ten books of essays (his own and edited collections) published in Cuba, Mexico and the US. His essay collection "Looking at ""Cuba"" "won the Cuban Critics Award in 2000, and was published by the University Press of Florida in 2003.
Lorena Barberia is Program Associate at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University.